Bill that rolls back NLRB 'joint employer' decision approved

The House Committee on Education and the Workforce has approved legislation that would roll back the National Labor Relations Board's controversial “joint employer” ruling.

In its August decision, the NLRB ruled that workers employed by a staffing agency are jointly employed by the agency and the facility where they're working. That ruling ruffled feathers in the healthcare community for the potential complications it could cause in bargaining talks between facilities and their temporary workers.

The new legislation, the Protecting Local Business Opportunity Act, would amend the ruling to specify that employers can be considered joint employers only if each has “actual, direct and immediate” control over the terms and conditions of employment. The bill has been sent to the full House for consideration.

More than 300 healthcare workers have complained to the Health and Human Services Department about employers infringing on their religious or conscience rights, a monthly total that increased nearly tenfold.